Knicks Morning News (Sunday, May 27 2012)

The Knicks desperately need guards. Allen Iverson desperately needs a job.
But The Post has learned Iverson is one CAA client the Knicks won’t pursue, deeming it too big a gamble. The mercurial 76ers great appeared in Philadelphia on Wednesday for his former team’s Game 6 against the…

Point guard Rajon Rondo stepped up to save the day in the final minutes as the Boston Celtics held off the Philadelphia 76ers 85-75 in their decisive Game Seven on Saturday and advanced to the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.

56 comments on “Knicks Morning News (Sunday, May 27 2012)”

I hate the Celtics with great passion, and last night was painful for me. That said, they are a marvel to behold. The combination of guile and b-ball IQ that they bring to the court is (man does this hurt to say) beautiful basketball. Garnett, Rondo, Pierce, Allen, and Bass are just a very, very smart lineup. Granted, they have been very lucky…both Atlanta and Philly are deeply flawed, but the Celts have put themselves in position to succeed all year despite the crunched season and their age. Garnett is the most amazing of them all, always in the right place at the right time and knocking down dagger after dagger. Bravo, you assholes!

Kg is a beast. He’ll never get the credit he deserves for the player he has been. I hate the Celtics but it’s hard to begrudge them this run and if I have to root for anyone in this series it’s probably them, as hard as that is to say.

Who we all rooting for here, heat or celtics? tough call, I guess none of the above should be an option too..

Owen:
Kg is a beast. He’ll never get the credit he deserves for the player he has been. I hate the Celtics but it’s hard to begrudge them this run and if I have to root for anyone in this series it’s probably them, as hard as that is to say.

Who we all rooting for here, heat or celtics? tough call, I guess none of the above should be an option too..

I choose none of the above. I’m just looking for either the Spurs or Thunder to beat whoever comes outta the East.

Definitely heat for me. It’s not just about hating the Celtics, but the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Bruins. I can’t bare to see the sports fans of Boston happy, and anything that makes them sad is a beautiful thing.

I can never root for a Boston team, and I do appreciate how LeBron can dominate every facet of a game maybe better than anyone ever has, so I reluctantly will be rooting for the Heat.
Miami vs S.A. is the most intriguing match-up to me, so that’s what I want to see. 10 deep vs the big 2.5.

I wouldn’t go overboard on canonizing the Celtics. They just took 7 games to beat an offensively challenged 8th seed (when your #1 option is Lou Williams long jumpers, that’s a problem) And last night they were bailed out by two Rondo bombs. I respect their toughness and all that, and KG is rejuvenated, but they’ve been incredibly lucky with the playoff draw, and have proven nothing to me so far.

KG was overrated in Minnesota (please don’t quote numbers at me to answer this), but is probably underrated now.

he used to invariably choke on the offensive end in big, close games down the stretch (which is why he was never a legit MVP candidate in MIN, and again, I don’t care about how bad his teammates were).

but joining up with Pierce took that responsibility off his hands, and he’s now turned himself into an incredibly reliable shooter from 15-22 feet, in addition to what’s left of his skills on the defensive end (dominant when he got to Boston, still pretty good now).

and I’m definitely rooting for the Heat, I can’t help but root for the basketball genius of LeBron, no matter how flawed his personality may be. I do hope OKC stomps them in the Finals, though, and I hope it’s not a Spurs/Heat Finals, it would be hard to pick one of those teams to root for to win it all.

d-mar: but joining up with Pierce took that responsibility off his hands, and he’s now turned himself into an incredibly reliable shooter from 15-22 feet, in addition to what’s left of his skills on the defensive end (dominant when he got to Boston, still pretty good now).

I agree that this Celtics team hasn’t proven anythng, but I think this is a pretty good matchup for them and I expect them to push the Heat pretty hard. The first 3 games against the Heat (nobody played in the 4th game) they averaged 104 points a game, the most the Heat allowed to anyone they played more than once. They swing the ball and they make open jump shots which are by far the two most important things against the Heat. I think they can score enough to stay in these games.

A lot will depend on Wade. They don’t have anyone who can even halfway check him. I’m honestly not even sure who they’re going to try. Allen has two bad wheels and can barely run, he’ll get killed. Pietrus is too slow. Dooling is too small. Wade should wear them out, especially if he really is finding his groove like it looked against Indy.

I’m rootin’ for the Celtics, but not for some ‘Bron hatin’ thing…my wife’s a C’s fan (and boy, was last year nuts here), and just wanna see her happy. Being out here near OKC, she’d flip if it was a C’s/Thunder title fight.

d-mar: I wouldn’t go overboard on canonizing the Celtics. They just took 7 games to beat an offensively challenged 8th seed (when your #1 option is Lou Williams long jumpers, that’s a problem) And last night they were bailed out by two Rondo bombs. I respect their toughness and all that, and KG is rejuvenated, but they’ve been incredibly lucky with the playoff draw, and have proven nothing to me so far.

The Celtics are not a great team. They have a bunch of bums on their bench, especially w/o Bradley. However, they deserve credit for a) winning the war of attrition in a compact season and b) as Larry Brown would say, playing the right way. Rondo continues to make big play after big play.

There was a stretch late in the season where they had 11 games in 14 days against pretty good teams that was to ultimately determine their seeding. They went 7-4 and avoided the 7-8 seeds. Considering that they are a very old, very thin team, they deserve a ton of credit for that.

I am rooting big time for the Heat, and hope they sweep and humiliate the Celts, then get their hearts ripped out once again in the finals, with LeBron missing dozens of 4th quarter shots.

I am rooting big time for the Heat, and hope they sweep and humiliate the Celts, then get their hearts ripped out once again in the finals, with LeBron missing dozens of 4th quarter shots.

Despite my mixed feelings about Lebron and the Heat I kind of hope they win this year just so the narrative of the league has a chance to evolve somewhat. As an NBA fan I feel like too much of the discussion around the league centers around the: “Will Lebron ever win a championship?” story. It has for the past 3 or 4 years now, and it will for the indefinite future until he wins one. I’m just bored of reading about it and talking about it and I hope he wins one so we can discuss other things.

On the league-wide narrative note: If Durant wins this year he’s going to be in good shape to have a seriously historic career and maybe threaten Jordan’s throne some day. He’d have his first chip at 23 with a great young core around him for the foreseeable future and a top front office. Some potentially interesting stories brewing there.

My hatred for the Celtics far outweighs my hatred of the Heat. Also, if the Heat win easily- especially without Bosh- Boston would be much more likely to let Garnett and Allen walk and start rebuilding immediately, making it easier for the Knicks to win the division next year. They take the Heat to 7 games (or win) they may try to keep them all together for another year or two.

thenamestsam: On the league-wide narrative note: If Durant wins this year he’s going to be in good shape to have a seriously historic career and maybe threaten Jordan’s throne some day. He’d have his first chip at 23 with a great young core around him for the foreseeable future and a top front office. Some potentially interesting stories brewing there.

He needs to step it up and have an impact on the defensive side of the ball and become a better passer and turn the ball over less. I don’t see him ever becoming a lock-down defensive player. Offensively, he’s a beast. I think Lebron is really the only player in his 20s that has a realistic shot at that mantle.

On the league-wide narrative note: If Durant wins this year he’s going to be in good shape to have a seriously historic career and maybe threaten Jordan’s throne some day. He’d have his first chip at 23 with a great young core around him for the foreseeable future and a top front office. Some potentially interesting stories brewing there.

I hate all Boston teams out of principle so no to the C’s. As for the Heat, my animosity towards them declined after the 90s rivalry cooled down, but it got reignited when the Big2.5 united. As of right this moment, my hate for the Heat is probably a little higher, and that’s mainly due to Wade (I used to be a big fan of LeBron but I can’t abide him playing for the Heat, so as long as he’s in South Beach, he’s wearing a target; maybe if he ever leaves and joins a new team will I start rooting for him again). Its a zero win situation either way so that’s why I’m reiterating my original support for whoever comes outta the West, though I’d probably prefer the Spirs because I think they’re a better matchup against the East.

I think I an going to root for the celts since my wife is vaguely a fan. And as much as i defend him, it would be pretty epic to see Lebron laid low and have to face another year of questions about his character…

he used to invariably choke on the offensive end in big, close games down the stretch (which is why he was never a legit MVP candidate in MIN, and again, I don’t care about how bad his teammates were).

but joining up with Pierce took that responsibility off his hands, and he’s now turned himself into an incredibly reliable shooter from 15-22 feet, in addition to what’s left of his skills on the defensive end (dominant when he got to Boston, still pretty good now).

I think I an going to root for the celts since my wife is vaguely a fan. And as much as i defend him, it would be pretty epic to see Lebron laid low and have to face another year of misguided questions about his character…

he used to invariably choke on the offensive end in big, close games down the stretch (which is why he was never a legit MVP candidate in MIN, and again, I don’t care about how bad his teammates were).

but joining up with Pierce took that responsibility off his hands, and he’s now turned himself into an incredibly reliable shooter from 15-22 feet, in addition to what’s left of his skills on the defensive end (dominant when he got to Boston, still pretty good now).

haha, who couldn’t pick those four series correctly? the only thing that’s happened so far in these playoffs is Rose/Noah getting hurt, otherwise we’d have the final four that everyone and their grandmother saw at the start of the playoffs.

I know Westbrook is great and all, but I really don’t like his game.
As he goes crashing into an offensive foul, I think: how long since Durant has touched the ball? But OKC has a lot of energy. The young legs could be the difference.

I am rooting for the Spurs – don’t get the Abbey hate – but I think the stat-heads are a little overconfident on them.

Can’t remember a game when the stars missed so many dunks and point-blank looks. Duncan must have missed 3 or 4, right at the rim. And Durant and Westbrook both missed their dunks in the 1st half. I guess KD’s was technically blocked, but still.

OKC looked sharp tonight, and really energetic. More than the Spurs. But then you look and see how many TOs the Spurs had… and missed FTs… and all those missed Duncan layups, and the bricked 3-pointers. And you say, they played like crap tonight.. and still won.

To beat my dead horse, if they made KD the first option instead of Westbrook, they’d be a lot better.

johnlocke:
He needs to step it up and have an impact on the defensive side of the ball and become a better passer and turn the ball over less. I don’t see him ever becoming a lock-down defensive player. Offensively, he’s a beast. I think Lebron is really the only player in his 20s that has a realistic shot at that mantle.

I’m not saying that it would be right, just that it might happen. My point was basically this: If I told you that Durant will have 3 championships by his 30th birthday would you say I was crazy? 4? 5? That team is set up to do some potentially dynastic stuff, and even if he gets more credit for it than he deserves (and he does), if they do it, he will get the credit. He’s in a better, more sustainable situation at a young age than all but a few all-timers, and his game should really age nicely.

Obviously not the right time to be giving him too much credit after that game though. 0-2 in the fourth quarter. If Lebron threw up that statline in the fourth quarter of a playoff game while his team blew a big lead I’m pretty sure we might hear something about that. The weird thing is that they barely tried to run stuff for him. Jacksons defense was pretty great, but Durant was drawing a ton of fouls on him and they didn’t just keep going back to it. Westbrook takes too much shit in general, but at times you wonder why he doesn’t see this stuff. If he had just force fed Durant it would have been a parade to the free throw line.

jon abbey: ugh, wish he dropped dead tomorrow (yes, literally), HATE HIS GAME WITH A PASSION. so sick of the Spurs sapping the fun out of the playoffs, I thought we were done with this…

I can’t agree in the slightest. Manu is one of the most fun players to watch in the league. His collection of fakes is almost unrivaled.

When he split those two defenders on the perimeter to sneak into the lane, he had an open floater. Instead, he drove and drew Timmy’s defender and dumped it in to Duncan for the easy layup. That’s beautiful to watch.

It’s not like he doesn’t produce highlight plays night after night, either. In the 4th last night, when he had Durant out on an island, Ginobili pass faked the first step of his eurostep and Durant utterly fell for it. Manu took it past him to the rack for the and-one. Look at Durant here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEM-olFjuaA

well, I think I said this already here the other day, but the Spurs are all fundamentals, no flair (again, except for Parker). I feel like I’m watching an instructional video. what I love about the NBA is improvisation via superior athleticism, not college-style teamwork, and the Spurs have been knocking those teams out for the whole Duncan era, and I’m sick of it (actually I was sick of it a long time ago).

I wouldn’t even like Tim Duncan if he had been a Knick his whole career, seriously. I think the same is true for Ginobili, although less sure on that.

again, I would personally rather watch a full team of Anthony Randolphs go 0-82, but I don’t expect people to share my taste.

maybe the most fun team I’ve ever rooted for is the 2000-2001 Clippers (who ended up 31-51), but only when they had a lineup including five of the following players: Olowokandi, Odom, Darius Miles (my favorite player at the time), Maggette, Quentin Richardson, and Dooling (pre-knee surgery, dude could sky), all in their first couple of years in the league, super young and super athletic.

jon abbey:
well, I think I said this already here the other day, but the Spurs are all fundamentals, no flair (again, except for Parker). I feel like I’m watching an instructional video. what I love about the NBA is improvisation via superior athleticism, not college-style teamwork, and the Spurs have been knocking those teams out for the whole Duncan era, and I’m sick of it (actually I was sick of it a long time ago).

I wouldn’t even like Tim Duncan if he had been a Knick his whole career, seriously. I think the same is true for Ginobili, although less sure on that.

Man, I have no idea what you’re watching. It’s like you put a game from 2003 into your VCR instead of watching the one played last night :)

no, I watched the one starring Gary Neal and Boris Diaw and Danny Green, and the other team a thousand times more entertaining, just like when the Spurs used to beat down D’Antoni’s Suns, crushing all that is good and sacred in the process. :)

Actually, Clyde only had swag off the court in his dress and in hisprivate life. On the court, his facial expression never changed, his game was all about perfect execution of fundamentals, never any unnecessary flash, never dunked, never got called for a single tech in his entire career…in fact, he was very Manu-like, maybe even more boring by your standards!